How Forming A Community Can Help your Restaurant

According to Wikipedia the definition of the term community is still being debated by sociologists. For our purposes, a community is a group of people that are related by a common bond and usually in the same area. From a restaurant marketing perspective the common bond is your restaurant and its proximity to the group. The group is your guests and prospective guests.

There is a lot of buzz in the restaurant business about viral marketing, online marketing, social marketing and all of the great things that can be achieved online. Yes, a lot of the marketing trends are very adaptable to the Internet and the constant resources being developed there. The Internet IS a valuable tool, but should not be the only element of getting new customers and maintaining business at your restaurant. If you rely only on the Internet, you will miss 30% to 40% of your customers and prospective customers. Those are the ones who don’t have computers and the ones who don’t fully embrace the technology.

Your restaurant marketing plan needs to develop what I call your “branded community“. That is a group that is defined by the use and potential use of your restaurant. They reside in an area that a reasonable person would define as your potential marketing area. It could be a 2 mile radius, 3 mile radius or much smaller or greater – but clearly within a distance a guest would be willing to travel on a fairly regular basis to visit. Who are the members of your community? The answer depends on the type of restaurant, demographics and structure of the area you have defined as your marketable community area.

Your restaurant community may include:
residents
businesses
groups and associations
athletic teams
government offices
schools
hotels

The list could go on, but generally can easily be defined by just a quick drive within your community area.

Once you have defined the members of your restaurant’s community, you have to define how you will communicate with them. Commonly, the most recognized method of communication is advertising. However, normal advertising like newspapers, direct mail and even yellow page ads are expensive and not very productive. Can print media advertising be useful? Perhaps, but there are many more productive and less costly ways to get your messages to your community.

With today’s available connectivity through the Internet along with old proven direct one on one marketing, you have numerous options. A few ways to get your restaurant’s message out to the community include:
email
website and/or blog
social websites like youtube, facebook, myspace and others
direct mail
personal visits
flyers
membership in groups and associations
involvement in community events
becoming a source for community information and communication

Your type of restaurant may not be able to utilize all of the above methods, but should use as many as possible to reach your full potential. By looking at a common restaurant business model, we can explore the use of each communication method. The business model we will use is the family restaurant with a hundred or more seats in a suburban market of a major city. This model would encompass all of your community members listed above. Here are some marketing ideas for communicating your message using each of the methods above:
Email – Perhaps the most cost effective and best tool available today is the use of email to keep in touch with your customers. As long as you keep the communication valuable to the recipient, it will drive more business to your restaurant than any other single tool.
Website or Blog – By now the restaurant industry has embraced the assets of having a website. An extension of the website is a blog for your community. The blog is a way to be a central source for events in your area, publicizing your restaurant specials and events, featuring members of your restaurant community and entice new business from people who find it on the Internet or through your advertising the web address in other media. For an example of an effective community blog visit The Sand Key Blog. This blog gets only 50 to 75 unique visitors per day. That is 1500 people a month checking your community blog. What other resource do you have that communicates with that many guests and prospective guests? The goal here is not a lot of “hits”. It is quality visitors keeping up with your “restaurant community”.
Social Websites – Within the last few years the prominence of socializing through huge online chat and video communities has become fairly popular. Populated by a big 18 to 34 year old crowd, these sites can be helpful to reach prospective guests through posting your restaurant information in these digital jungles of worldwide content. While not the highest priority as far as marketing options, you can create your presence and perhaps create some buzz.
Direct Mail – If you can generate, buy or create a mailing list that encompasses a big portion of your restaurant community, use it occasionally to promote special events, offer values or to distribute a newsletter. Direct mail is still effective, but costly. It is another tool that encompasses a portion of your community area that may not be reached any other way. If you choose to use coupons, this is a way to measure effectiveness and new business.
Personal Visits – In all of the fuss about the Internet, media advertising and viral marketing, sometimes we forget the old way restaurants grew before technology became part of our daily lives. There is still no more potent marketing tool than direct personal contact. One restaurateur I know uses daily visits to businesses in his area with food samples. He has a preset package of food samples that keep well. He delivers these to several businesses daily along with menu’s. It is extremely effective, but time consuming and moderately expensive. The results are immediate and long lasting.
Flyers – This low cost method of developing business in your community is effective. A simple half page flyer left on the counter of local businesses such as hardware stores, beauty salons, car washes, barbershops and similar places where residents visit can be a reminder that brings customers in the door more frequently. New comers in the area visit these shops and may get the implication that your restaurant is the community favorite.
Membership in Groups and Associations – Your restaurant is an extension of your personality and the people you associate with. Organizations publish membership lists which become prospective guests. Many groups have meetings at lunch and your restaurant becomes a natural location. Don’t forget these inevitable committees that organizations create to accomplish their goals. Offering your restaurant as a meeting place can boost sales.
Community Events – Events that occur in your area of influence become opportunities for participation to solidify your restaurant’s position as a contributor to the quality of life in the area. A neighborhood wide garage sale is a perfect place to cruise the area with coffee and snacks provided by your restaurant. That church fund raising dinner may include one course from your kitchen. How about Girl Scout cookies from the local troop as a palate refresher as guests leave. Build your involvement to build loyalty and customer counts.
Source for Information and Communication – An earlier paragraph explained how to create a blog for the community. You can also have a designated area in your restaurant for notices, flyers, business cards and announcements that bring your restaurant community together in the restaurant.

Forming your community may take a little planning and thinking, but the results are rewarding. Chain restaurants cannot compete with this conceptual marketing plan. They tend to rely on mass media to communicate with the masses. You can make inroads into customer loyalty and the feeling of belonging the chains could never match. The rewards will be more frequent visits to your establishment and less volatility in times of economic downturn. Once you get the customer in the door, pamper them like they were a guest in your home. The guest will talk about you and your operation to everyone they meet. This is true viral marketing.